How to implement a great performance management approach

Performance Management is often perceived as a time-intensive, tick box exercise with little value to employee, line manager or organisation.

A once or twice a year Performance Management session does little to embed the understanding and achieving of goals and the encouragement of performance in a job.

We see 9 pivotal areas to consider and actions to take. Read about them fully in our complete article.

Make Performance Management a process - not an event. We all know that an annual one- to two-hour discussion is not acceptable or sufficient as a ‘performance management process’ - even if there is an interim midway meeting. Turn Performance Management around by treating it as a continuous process of quality, focused time between manager and team member which supplements the review meetings.

Be crystal clear about the purpose and benefits of Performance Management. This means strong, tailored communication with all your stakeholders. It means investing the time to structure, plan and execute this.

Engage and train managers in the giving of feedback and managing of objectives. The role of the manager has changed: we want them to be 'coaches' rather than 'experts'; we want them to guide and develop people, not tell people what to do - but they need to the skills to do this.

Focus on your values and the relevant behaviours. Of course, Performance Management cannot be a 'one-size-fits-all' approach. You know that. So why not make sure that managers are able to comment on relevant behaviours and values displayed for the specific role. Employees need to see that feedback is relevant to them specifically as the, and only then, will feedback be seen as 'part of the day job'.

Give managers the tools to provide feedback - not judgment. Do the tools you offer and the systems you use encourage managers to have a coaching conversation or make a judgment on someone's past performance? Ask yourself: “Are ratings the most important outcome?” - or is are you looking for achievement of objectives and great performance?

Include 360 degree feedback and get a fuller picture of what is going on. Introduce a broader view of behaviour so that performance can be assessed by other stakeholders, not just by an employee and his or her manager.

Make it employee-centric. Think about the timing of the reviews; doesn't it make more sense to have the review meetings scheduled around the anniversary of the joining the organisation or taking on a new role?

Make HR resources relevant available. Consider what you are doing within the HR team/ Are you chasing people and administering the system or are you adding value by challenging the objectives set or responding to unjustified ratings if there is friction between a manager and an employee?

Review regularly the process. Just because your process worked well this year, it doesn’t mean it’ll be effective next year. A good Performance Management approach needs a good continuous performance management software system that has dashboards, reminders and other prompts to keep the process current.